The next piece of information arrived faster than Daniel expected.On Friday morning a new post appeared on the campus forum. It was short and careful. It said a former clerk who once handled restricted name lists had confirmed there was still no Daniel Reed connected to the main Reid family. The post did not name Liam, but everyone knew where it came from.By lunch the talk had turned sharper. More students looked at Daniel with open doubt. A few who used to sit near him in class moved to other tables.Daniel walked into the cafeteria with his tray. The noise dropped for a second when people saw him. He found an empty spot near the window and sat down. His roommates joined him a minute later. They looked worried.“This is getting bad,” one of them said quietly. “People are starting to believe Liam for real.”Daniel just nodded and started eating. The food tasted like nothing.Across the room Liam sat with Maya and three friends. He looked calm. Too calm. He did not come over right aw

The new post went up on Tuesday night.It was longer than the others. It repeated the same fact — no Daniel Reed in the Reid family records — and added one more detail. A former clerk had confirmed the name lists he once saw never included anyone matching Daniel’s age or background. By Wednesday morning the post had been shared across three campus groups.Daniel felt the difference the moment he stepped into the business building. People did not just look away. Some stared. A few openly whispered. One student from his lecture group said “still pretending?” just loud enough for him to hear.He kept walking.At lunch the cafeteria felt colder than usual. Daniel sat with his roommates. They tried to talk about normal things, but the silence around their table made it hard.Liam did not come over right away. He sat with Maya and his friends and let the talk do the work. Only when most of the room was watching did he stand up and walk across.He stopped in front of Daniel’s table and spoke